Dr Vino's wine blog

In a series of post that will go directly into the Wine Blogging Hall of Fame, check out the return of the Hosemaster of Wine and his three-part series, PARKENSTEIN!

In the first installment, Parkenstein assembles his creation: “the more power I accumulated, the more I felt this feverish desire to transfer it to another being, to give power to a cipher of my own creation.” In the second, the creation is animated “the monster’s speech was made up of grunts and snorts and slurping sounds. I had succeeded beyond my wildest dreams—he already spoke like a critic.”

And in the rousing final installment, the creation wanders the earth…which only is big enough for either the creator or the creation.

Mary Shelley would be proud–if she were a wine geek. Hopefully there will be Young Parkensteen!

Is inflation crippling wine scores? In the near future, will it take a wheelbarrow of points to sell a Moscato? Let’s hope Ben Bernanke–or, eegad, Paul Volcker!–doesn’t read this post or he might take the punch bowl away. To the recent evidence:

First, the Wine Advocate’s recent reviews of 1,061 “new releases from Napa Valley” came out. I haven’t crunched the numbers but Blake Gray did and found that new critic Antonio Galloni’s “midpoint” (not sure if this is the mean or median) was 92, up from 91 for Parker’s last set of reviews. Fully 123 of the wines received 95 or more points.

Second, an importer wrote this to me via email last month:

The dollars and points are obviously directly related but so is the timing. 90 means nothing today unless it’s under $10 really. 91 and 92 are no mans land. The difference btwn 93 and 94 at the $35 price point is also another important barrier causing significant sales swings (when it is 94). But the points are only valid for the issue in question. Once that issue disappears subsequent vintages of a wine that got a higher rating won’t cause sales.

Third, this recently appeared in retailer Daniel Posner’s daily blast from Grapes the Wine Company:

Every time I turn around, another 2007 Barolo is getting 96 points or higher. Sales sheets have been coming my way with loads of offerings and the points are nearly always the same. 96 points…96 points…97 points, and then, perish the thought, they try to sell me a 94 pointer! I mean really. Who is buying 94 point wine these days. 94 points is for chumps…losers…people that don’t really love Barolo. Because if you love Barolo, you are buying 96 points and up…

Leave the 94 pointers for the people that like Napa Cabs…

And the 90 pointers…White Zin drinkers drink 90 point wine!

SIPPED: imitation as flattery?
From the coffee threatdown files: Starbucks will extend its wine bar concept with up to seven locations in Chicago. Make it a venti vino? [SeattleTimes]

SPIT: stinky reporting
A microbial enologist laments the lack of rigor in Decanter and Wine Spectator’s recent reporting of sequencing the genome of Brettanomyces, a cause of feral, animale aromas often considered a flaw. She says that while sequencing is an accomplishment and helpful, but “by no means guarantees a solution to winery brett problems.” [wineoscope]

ANNOUNCED: sequences
Speaking of sequencing, David Schildknecht hit the airwaves to say that Parker told him almost a year ago that Miller was retiring at the end of 2011. [Jim's Loire]

GAWKERIZED: Recent personnel changes at Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate make Gawker, in typically colorful style.

With yesterday’s announcement from Robert Parker that Jay Miller will be leaving The Wine Advocate, five wine regions will be getting new reviewers for the publication.

David Schildknecht is a thoughtful, erudite, thorough reviewer with a tremendous knowledge of the regions he covers. The one time I met him, he held forth on not only the wines in front of us but also Austrian soil types, vineyard weather exposure, family histories of producers, classical music and butterflies. He was an importer of German wines. He currently reviews the wines of Germany, Austria, the Loire, Languedoc-Roussillon, Beaujolais, Alsace, and America’s east coast. He will add Oregon and Washington to this list.

Neal Martin, 40 and based near London, will be the publication’s critic for Spain, Argentina and Chile adding to his new-ish coverage of Sauternes, South Africa and part of New Zealand. He has mostly been an “at-large” critic without a geographical region though he has been working on a book about Pomerol. In a 2006 posting on his site after attending a Spanish tasting, Martin wrote: “I have never really got under the skin of Spanish wine. This tasting does little to alleviate my apathy.” Martin entered a eBob thread on tempranillo in 2007 and wrote “in most cases I view it as more of a work-horse grape that works better as a blend rather than a single variety.”

A couple of things to note in all this. First, Parker has not selected a regional expert for any of the new regions. While Galloni had only been to California and Burgundy twice before assuming his coverage of those areas, it’s not immediately clear if Martin, in particular, has been ever been to and tasted in the regions of his new assignment. Also, a with so much ground to cover, hopefully they manage to slow down and not feel compelled to taste at nine wineries in a day.

Further, and most importantly, neither Martin nor Schildknecht would appear to have any patience for the high-octane, woody style of red wines of all of his coverage that Miller championed and showered with points, including many 100-point scores. So the wineries that were making wines in a style explicitly to appeal to Miller may find these new critics more abstemious with the scores. Or perhaps not–maybe the path of least resistance for the new critics is simply to lavish praise on all styles? Their first reviews will tell.

In a posting on eRobertParker.com, Robert Parker has announced that Jay Miller will no longer be writing for The Wine Advocate. Parker says: “After several months of consideration, Big Jay, who has done such a thorough and professional job of bringing emerging wine regions such as Spain, South America, and the Pacific Northwest much needed coverage and attention, has decided to return to wine consulting, lecturing and wine retail.”

Miller says he will be returning part time to Bin 604, a wine store, working on a book and may start a wine blog. He added:

Some may believe my stepping down is in response to my critics. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have felt constrained in responding while still on The Wine Advocate staff. While the office has defended my actions, justifiably, now it is time for me to speak for myself… I leave The Wine Advocate with a clear conscience. I have never accepted (or requested) fees for visiting wine regions or wineries.

Neal Martin will take over reviewing the wines of Spain, Argentina, and Chile for the publication. David Schildknecht will review the wines of Oregon and Washington.

Related: “Campogate: No pay, no Jay” [Jim's Loire]
“Regional group charges wineries fees for Wine Advocate tasting“

SIPPED and SPIT: saber rattling
Jim Budd posts more revelations about Pancho Campo and Jay Miller, including emails involving a $31,000 tasting for the wines of Madrid that the regional body could not afford. On his web site, Robert Parker threatens to sue over the recent revelations. Jim Budd pushes back against such a prospect.

SIPPED: tragedy
A blogger views the events transpiring in Spain through the lens of Aristotelean tragedy. But how does it end? [koskeloonwine]

SIPPED and SPIT: Yao Ming wine
Yao Ming, former NBA player and current wine enthusiast living in Shanghai, has released a Napa cabernet that will sell for $289 a bottle in China (including duties and sales tax). Blake Gray points out that the wine is not from a specific vineyard; Cameron Hughes elaborates in the comments that he bought similar wine for $5 – $25 a gallon on the bulk market. (There are about five wine bottles to the gallon.) A higher-priced wine, Yao Family Reserve, is expected soon. [WSJ, Gray Report]

SIPPED: BYOB?
Over on Chowhound, a commenter wonders if it is okay to bring wine, specifically Armand de Brignac “Ace of Spades,” to MASA where the corkage fee is $90. Over on Facebook, Lyle Fass quips that the bling bottle merits that “They should charge your ass double!!” It’s an interesting idea to have restaurants vary corkage fees depending on whether they like a diner’s wine–how much for Chateauneuf du Pape at Masa? Or Yao Ming cab?

Coincidentally, two American critics are tweeting from their Burgundy visits right now. The critics are Antonio Galloni of Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate and John Gilman, who publishes The View from the Cellar. Galloni offered this information from his trip on Twitter:

Nine visits per day, needless to say, would equal about 30 – 45 minutes per visit. So I asked how much time he spends at each domaine. He replied, “depends on the # of wines, key is to have everything ready in advance, put visits close together.”

If he was tasting the Bourgogne-level wines, village wines, premier crus and grand crus (if any) for reds and whites, and for two vintages, that was a lot of swirling and spitting! I asked if he had sufficient time to evaluate the wines. He replied, “Sure thing. Tasted ’10 reds, plus selection of 09s, no whites.” Galloni had been to Burgundy twice prior to taking over coverage of the region earlier this year.

I saw John Gilman was also awake and tweeting, so I asked him how long he takes per stop while in Burgundy. He said, “Depends on the size of the cellar–Drouhin or Jadot count as 2 stops–average is 1.5 hours- I like to take time to talk w/ vignerons.” Then he added, “most I did on single day on this last trip was 6–3 in morning and 3 in afternoon–started a 8h00 & finished up at 19h00–exhausted.”

An item on Bloomberg yesterday detailed how Spaniards are drinking less wine, which has prompted Spanish wineries to pursue export markets more. From this perspective, it’s partially understandable why Spanish wineries might want to pay a fee to invite Wine Advocate critic Jay Miller to their regions. They want to crack into the US market and they figure the best way to do so is to get a score from the Wine Advocate (even if one document from the regional organization referred to the scores as “Parker points”).

But that sales strategy is sooo 1990s! In my view, many American wine consumers have moved beyond scores, and an increasing number of wine shops have too. What do you think: should the wine industry move beyond scores? Are scores less relevant today to consumers in your experience than they were five or ten years ago? It seems to me that today the trade clings to scores more readily than consumers do. But one importer I spoke with recently Jose Pastor, has said no to scores.

I asked the Twitterverse for shops that do not use third-party tasting notes or scores. The unverified responses appear after the jump–hit the comments to keep the list going! Read more…